welcome to bbc world news, we're going straight to some breaking news now. a number of people have been injured in north london after a vehicle collided with pedestrians. the muslim council of britain has said that worshippers were hit by a van as they left prayers at the finsbury park mosque. one eye—witness has told the bbc that at least three people were seriously injured. you are looking at pictures that we re you are looking at pictures that were taken not long after the incident. earlier, the metropolitan police issued this statement. it said — police were called just after 0020hrs local time on the 19 june to reports of a vehicle in collision with pedestrians. officers are on scene with other emergency services. there are a number of casualties being worked on at the scene. there has been one person arrested. enquiries continue. london ambulance has issued this

statement: "we have sent a number of resources to an incident in seven sisters road. more information will follow when we have it." our news correspondent jane frances—kelly is at the scene. eyewitnesses have told police that they think at least three people we re they think at least three people were injured. they are being treated on the ground near finsbury park mosque in north london. this was 20 past midnight london time that it was after evening prayers at the mosque. a lot of people in that area it isa mosque. a lot of people in that area it is a very, very busy route through north london. you can see the large crowd gathered. a big police operation was put into place, not only arresting that man but

working with the crowd to keep the situation calm. that is according to an eyewitness speaking to bbc news. about ten past one this morning, i was coming from the shops. a band that was standing out by the traffic lights was the band that mode people down. a lot of people believe that the driver who was driving the van may have thought that could have been the entrance of the mosque but as you can see, the mosque is further up. it is a family who have been living there and the people who are living there, i believe there is are living there, i believe there is a fatality. some of the children or whoever is there got hurt also. you can see the flashing lights of

the cars and andy lancers as well is people out on the streets. we think that whole route through north london has been blocked off. —— ambulances. hillary briffa lives on seven sisters road and her house is right across from the police cordon. she's described the scene there a short time ago. i live on on seven sisters road, just down the street from where the attack happened. the cordons just passed my flat window. basically i got home around midnight and shortly after getting home i started hearing a lot of yelling and screeching and a lot of chaos outside. so i went down and ran out to see what was happening. everybody was shouting that a van had hit people and, basically, there was a white van stopped outside the mosque

that seems to have hit people were coming out after prayers had finished. i did not see the attacker himself although he seems to have been arrested but i did see the van. the police started to ask people to move back so they could put up a cordon and we were pushed back along the street. civilians were agitated and shouting that this was a white supremacist attack and it should be called terror and people were very unwilling to move back and were very angry. the police kept calm and kept moving people backwards to just past durham road, a bit further back from seven sisters road. i returned to my flat because the cordon is further along so i can enter and have access to my flat. i am watching everything

unfolding from my window. five fire engines have pulled up will stop we are feeling quite —— we are feeling quite helpless and not really knowing what to do. other than handing out water we're sitting here in waiting for information to come. it is after midnight in london but, as you say, if this was a mosque then evening press would have happened. how busy was it? i came home about half 11. i know that there were prayers on, i saw them as i was walking down the street, a lot of people walking towards it. finsbury park mosque is one of the biggest in europe and there is a thriving muslim community here. very active.

i came home and got ready to go to bed and then i started hearing all the noise. when i went downstairs, the street was full of people reacting to what had happened but i don't know exactly how many people had just come out of the mosque itself or who were there at the time or, like me, had responded after hearing the chaos and went down to see what was happening. when people started to get a bit agitated and it seemed and police, i instinctively moved back out of the way because, obviously much you want to make you do not get caught up in anything that unfolds. the police were calm and they recognise that people were panicked. in terms of casualties, how many people could you see? what kinds of injuries could you see? i couldn't really see much but i know there from the look of a come there seemed to be at least three

people who were definitely seriously injured. people were being pushed as far back from them as possible so that the emergency services could get through. i have a feeling there were more. i imagine that if the people were friends or relatives in the area or at the mosque then there must have been people quite panicked and upset around them. exactly. there were women crying and men yelling. there was a lot of yelling in what i assume was arabic so i could not understand everything that people were shouting. i can't tell you exactly what was being said but there was definitely... there were all sorts of people, women, children, young adults outside. it was a complete mix. i'm not sure what age the victims were. we are looking at pictures of the police presence on the road. lots of police cars, from the latest pictures

we have received. what can you now see from your window in terms of how big this operation is? the operation is definitely huge. i am looking out my window so you may hear a little more noise. just outside there are five police cars right outside my front door and at least 13 or 15 at the end of the cordon. if i look left can see the station and the entire road is backed up with police cars, ambulances, there were released five fire with police cars, ambulances, there were at least five fire trucks, the big ones, and, literally, from the station almost all the way down it is entirely ambulances, sirens, police cars and i know that the cordon is going off in the other direction because i now somebody who lives further down it was messaging me telling me that the cordon

is going down in that direction as well. —— i know somebody. so it seems to be a significant part of seven sisters road. you are now looking at live pictures from finsbury park mosque. you can see a number of police officers, vehicles and emergency response and in the background. —— emergency response vehicles. a reminderfor dew, worshippers were hit by a van as they were leaving press. ——a reminder for you. as they were leaving press. ——a reminderfor you. one as they were leaving press. ——a reminder for you. one person as they were leaving press. ——a reminderfor you. one person has been arrested. this live pictures of the police operation going on in north london after this incident. we are now going to another

eyewitness cynthia va nzella. when i went to the window from my bedroom it had already happened. i was in bed and i started to hear a lot of shouting outside. seven sisters road is incredibly noisy, so that is nothing new. but when the shouting got louder and louder i went to have a look at what was going on in the access road across my block of flats, with many people gathered outside. i don't have a good idea of numbers, possibly 200 people? many, many people, enough to block at least half of seven sisters road. as well as the access road. they were nervous and shouting. there was no fighting at all. they were nervous and shouting and i could see that they were waving.

later on i found out they were waving at a police car stuck in traffic further down. and in a matter of seconds the police car came here, stopped by them and then theyjust pushed someone towards the police. "take him, take him!" and then the police put this man inside the car. so to be clear, the crowd, in essence, offered up this person to the police? is that right? yes. there were very nervously pushing him towards the police, telling the police officer who was confused, they did not know what had happened, so they were telling the police officers to take him, take him. so i understood that... i just found out later on there was a car running people over.

i did not see what actually happened. when you say the crowd, am i right in thinking that these are people who would have been attending the mosque? i think so, because the mosque is around the next corner and they usually gather in this corner where they meet after the prayers. just to talk a bit, i guess. it is run down as well so they stay later, i guess. it is run down as well so they stay later, iguess. —— it is run down as well so they stay later, i guess. —— ramadan. so there were more people gathered in the corner. they were the ones handing him over to police. in terms of casualties, could you see how many people had been hurt and injured? i saw it least three or four injured people on the pavement, being held by police from my point of view there is the police van blocking my view, i saw it least two people on the floor.

they were giving them cardiac massage until the ambulance arrived. an incredibly distressing sight to witness, cynthia. what can you see now in terms of the police operation? the situation is pretty calm now there are many many police cars here still. i can't see if there are any ambulances left. there are still many police cars, the road is completely closed so there is no traffic. there are at least, from what i can see...

15 police cars? maybe more. ican i can see police walking around, talking to people, probably trying to get witnesses, i guess. there is nobody shouting any more. the helicopter is still flying above. what happened to the man who was offered up by the crowd to the police. as you say, they asked him to arrest him. what happened to that man? i think he was taken by the police. i did not really see that there was so, so many people. because i am in a window in a flat on the other side of the road, i could see many heads together, quite nervously. and, then, someone entered the police car but i could not see their face or anything. a few minutes later i saw, i think, someone posted on twitter, footage, because so many people filming with their phones,

their mobile phones. ididn't ididn‘t go i didn't go downstairs because i was a bit scared. i think one of them posted it on twitter and you can see the man's face clearly and he said that that man had run over people with his car. that is all i know, actually, from what happened. so you heard that from someone down on the street, cynthia? no. i heard that from somebody who posted it on the internet. soi so i saw the scene, but from faraway, this man had exactly the same thing, but the footage was taken from the middle of the crowd. i only saw the top of the guys head. you are now looking at live pictures are the finsbury park area where there is a major police operation

under way. this happened a short time after midnight london time, about 2.5 hours ago. you can see the scale of the police presence down there are and the crowd to have gathered. this happened as worshippers were coming out of evening prayers said there were many people out on the road and you can still see people gathered around, waiting for information, seeing what has happened. part of the road is cordoned off as they treat the casualties. i would like to bring you a line that has come from the newspaper here in london which reports that a man let doubts of a white van and stabbed at least one person. —— lapped out of a white van. we have heard from police that one man has been arrested but this line from the newspaper that a man jumped from the van and stabbed one person. eyewitnesses have been

telling us that there are a number of casualties. let's speak to another eyewitness now. jermaine is on the line, in the area at the moment. thank you for speaking to us. what did you see? i was on my way home from a show and ijust i was on my way home from a show and i just saw i was on my way home from a show and ijust saw a i was on my way home from a show and i just saw a number of police officers running in one direction. i ignore that and went home, started my dinner, and then i went on twitter and saw that there was an attack. so i ran back out to see what was going on. i spoke to a couple of people around here. the atmosphere here is still a bit hostile. i think much of the anger from the muslim men and women are bemused that it is not reported as a terrorist attack. that is how they wa nt terrorist attack. that is how they want it reported. i have seen a

number of ambulances driving past, and trauma unit, people in suits. i spoke with a local councillor who was on the phone tojeremy corbyn who has now been informed because he lives in this area as well. it is crazy, bringing home how close these things can happen to you. i am here to say let's call a spade, a spade. this is a terrorist attack. a white van amounted the pavement and ran over people. i also heard that he jumped from the car and tried to sta b jumped from the car and tried to stab people, i also heard that there we re stab people, i also heard that there were three people, notjust one. i think as information —— time goes on, information will come out. jermaine, i guess you have your opinion but we must be careful that it is only a few hours since this happened and we are still trying to work out the facts of exactly what

happened. did you see the casualties, the people who had been injured? i saw some of the videos online, which should be removed. it is disgusting. there are definitely severe casualties. dangerous injuries. i don't want to say if there are any deaths but i would not be surprised because it was a van. a van that mounted the pavement as men and women were leaving the mosque to go home to their families and friends and their loved ones. they we re friends and their loved ones. they were mowed down by a van. i would not be surprised if there were fatalities. but speaking to eyewitnesses, i spoke to a young man who said that he was trying to get through to his knees and could not reach her. i suppose for our viewers around the world, the time here it is, you know, just passed three in

the morning. this happened just after midnight. as you say it was very busy, wasn't it, because worshippers were leaving evening prayers. do you have a sense of how many people were out there and the types of people in terms of, you know, families, young, old? there are two mosques within 50 metres so you can imagine, imagine the congregation was in the hundreds. loads of people out at this time, walking home with their young ones, brothers, siblings, parents, walking home. i saw a video earlier of an elderly man who was knocked down. these are horrific scenes that we are seeing. you can imagine that the streets are packed with people walking home. this was well thought through. the person who did this knew what he was doing, knew what time to commit this disgusting crime. we are looking at live

pictures from north london. we can see the crowds there. you mentioned earlier that there was a feeling of hostility. could you expand on that in terms of what you directly saw and heard? i get a sense of anger in the air. angerfrom and heard? i get a sense of anger in the air. anger from the and heard? i get a sense of anger in the air. angerfrom the police and heard? i get a sense of anger in the air. anger from the police and they need to understand that this just happened. there needs to be time for information to come out. but most of the anger was given, was targeted towards the reporters who came to the scene with their cameras, putting cameras into the faces of people and that sense of privacy, that line was crossed. many reporters then had to, they were arguing with people here who did not wa nt to arguing with people here who did not want to be recorded or two interviews. many people are angry about those reporters. no one is calling at what it is. many people say it should be called a terrorist

attack. we saw ten minutes ago that attack. we saw ten minutes ago that a man was arrested, tackled to the ground by police. a man was arrested and has been driven away. i don't know whether that had anything to do with it but it was in the middle of the crowd. as this is know, a few hours old, i wonder how was information getting out down there? how is the crowd learning about what happened? i know in these situations sometimes it is hard to get the fa cts sometimes it is hard to get the facts out in terms of how many people have been injured and things like that. how are you hearing things? i hear what you are trying to say. because it is so fresh and it just to say. because it is so fresh and itjust happened, to say. because it is so fresh and it just happened, it to say. because it is so fresh and itjust happened, it is coming through the cordoned off the area, people coming out of the mosque. police are allowing people to come out and we hear eyewitness accounts, saying that people did not see the van coming. it turned onto the pavement speeding down the road.

people are coming out and saying we saw this, we saw this, we heard this. we saw the man get arrested. there are videos online, circulating, showing that man being arrested. i want to reiterate that we should call it what it is. i understand that information is still emerging that if this was a westerner attack, it is —— that is what it would have been called straightaway. it certainly that you get from people down there? that this was deliberate? absolutely. targeted towards the muslim community here, knowing that there are two mosques so close together at the exact time to commit this crime, by mounting the pavement and mowing down these people. the person knew what they were doing. this was a crime to instilfear what they were doing. this was a crime to instil fear into the community. it has done the opposite because already people are coming out with food and water because some of the men and women are about to

start fasting again so before they do that they need to drink because they are going through the emotional distress of seeing their fellow worshippers rundown on the pavement. coming out from a holy place, the place where you are meant to feel safe, walking out onto the and seeing something like this. it is hard—hitting seeing something like this. it is ha rd—hitting when you seeing something like this. it is hard—hitting when you see something like westminster bridge all london bridge or manchester and then you see it on your street. this is two minutes from my house. i was about to have dinner, but i ran out to sea what help i could offer or information i could get. there have been so many incidents in london over the last quattro weeks. stay with us because something, a line that has come into us from the london evening standard is that a manjumped london evening standard is that a man jumped out of london evening standard is that a manjumped out of a van and london evening standard is that a man jumped out of a van and stabbed at least one person. i know you were not there at the time but you seem

to have been speaking to many people. is that something that you heard down there, can you give us any more information about what happened? it is the same thing. you need to be careful with the information given out. i have heard from people that a man did leave the van and start to stab people. i also heard that there were three people and two run—off while one was arrested. there are so many facts and figures and alternative faqs, certainly in the air so i think we need to just give it some time and see what happened. what i can is that people are angry. people are very angered that their community, their brothers and sisters, their fellow worshippers were targeted and they felt like they are being missed represented by the media already. we have seen on other news outlets calling it a car collision or a minor incident. this is what fuels the anger here. people wanted to be called what it is. if you see the

people out here, you see people arguing in shouting at one another because they are angry. they want a nswe rs. because they are angry. they want answers. i'm here to say we need to give this time. in fairness, what we have to say is that when initial reports come in and when you refer toa reports come in and when you refer to a vehicle collision, that is a phrase that came from the metropolitan police. because, of course, we hear about incidents all the time but very few of them turn out in two major things like this. we don't really know what is going on so we don't really know what is going onsoi we don't really know what is going on so i think that expression, a collision with a vehicle, came from the metropolitan police. they are still investigating it. now we are starting to get more details that are making this look far more serious, as you say. another line that we are getting is from the sun newspaper which reports that two worshippers are feared dead. is that something that you have heard down there? that is the last paper i

would read right now. i have heard stories of people definitely... 0f fatalities. i have heard stories of fatalities. i have heard stories of fatalities. i have heard stories of fatalities. i have heard that people died. and it is sad. it really is sad. so... i am just hoping and praying that everyone can pull through. i didn't you can hear there is another man shouting at a reporter, and a lot of hostility again growing. we are looking at live pictures of the crowd near one of the roads that has been cordoned off. could you give us a sense of the geography? where are you standing? how far away in relation to where the incident happened?” standing? how far away in relation to where the incident happened? i am letter really —— literally about 100 yards from the mosque, right beside

the arsenal stall, part of the train station, underneath the bridge where the police vans and offices are. a large crowd. i see no cameras, otherwise i would smile and wave. i don't know where you are but i'm close. i have been here for the last 2.5 hours. our live pictures, we're looking at a line of police officers behind some police tape at the junction of one of the roads. i don't know if that is anywhere near you. i'm guessing that quite a number of junctions could be you. i'm guessing that quite a number ofjunctions could be blocked off down there, it is a densely packed area of north london. off down there, it is a densely packed area of north londonlj off down there, it is a densely packed area of north london. i am walking past the line. you can see me but i am walking past the line and there are about 30 police officers, three vans blocked off. it isa officers, three vans blocked off. it is a serious, serious incident and

there is a lot of anger. there is a massive group he shouting and arguing and it is quite frightening at times. i can understand the anger because some of the reporters... i guess the people here have a sense of their privacy being invaded, they just now need information. of their privacy being invaded, they just now need informationlj of their privacy being invaded, they just now need information. i suspect that information will keep coming out now in the coming hours. we appreciate you speaking to us here bbc news. we can now speak to our correspondence. 0ur news correspondent jane frances—kelly is at the scene. eyewitnesses have told me that about ten past 12 the seasoning, a white band went down seven sisters rd and

they say it deliberately went into a group of people on the pavement. —— at the scene. they were helping an elderly gentleman who had collapsed beforehand. eyewitnesses again say they saw between four to eight people on the ground injured. we don't know how proudly. those people we re don't know how proudly. those people were wearing identifiably muslim clothing. many people had come out of the two mosques here. the finsbury park mosque and the other mosque. they were attending last prayers and had come out to have a break and a snack. there was a lot of anger picos people feel